Proud Souls
by AmaranthPrincess21
Summary: After a bad first impression, Airi Himura and Captain Levi are often at ends with each other.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This isn't my OC. This is a commission from DA-user Shinju-Tsukuda who requested me to write a series with her OC Airi.

"Okay, but I'm just saying this is complete bullshit. Why should I have to do extra chores?" Airi Himura complained, looking down at her broom with a look that she reserved for only the worst things in life. "Does Captain Levi have a stick up his ass, or what?"

"Seriously, Airi? We've only been here for five minutes," Jean told her.

"Who cares about how long we've been here? I got double chores for absolutely no reason!" she defended herself.

"What did you expect? You left a bad first impression on Captain Levi and since you sassed him, he gave you double chores. It's not a hard concept," he said.

"You know what, I didn't ask you, Jean," she retorted, giving him a dark look.

"Yeah you did!" he replied indignantly. Airi rolled her eyes and went back to sweeping.

"Whatever. I have work to do," she said. Her day hadn't started off bad. It was rather normal until the incident. She'd woken up, had breakfast with her friends, and then she and the rest of the new recruits got assigned chores by none other than Humanity's Cleanest Captain.

"Despite my squad trying to make this place habitable, six people can't do much. The barracks and bathrooms are far from being clean. It's your job to clean your barracks first, and then the bathrooms. I have to go work with Hange and Yeager but once I'm done I'll come back and check on your progress." And with that, Captain Levi left after only meeting with them for a few minutes. _Really? That seems inefficient,_ Airi had thought, and that thought had ultimately played a part in her getting the Captain's wrath.

"Guys, don't you think we'd get done faster if we split up chores?" she suggested, looking around at her friends.

"Won't Captain Levi get mad at us for splitting up?" Krista asked worriedly.

"Maybe, but this way is more efficient," Airi shrugged. "This way we have fewer people in each room so we can work faster, and if we work faster we get done faster."

"I think it's a great idea," Reiner spoke up and she felt a small hint of pride at the approval. "Whoever wants to clean bathrooms, feel free to come join me." Some soldiers moved quickly while some moved with hesitation, clearly nervous about disobeying orders. But when things went smoothly everyone forgot about apprehension they might've had. Sure, things were slower than Airi had thought they'd go, but with less people in the room no one was getting in the way of each other. Everything was going well.

 _Until stupid Captain Levi butted in,_ Airi thought resentfully, sweeping the floor even harder as she remembered Levi coming back into the dorm room.

"Oi, where's the rest of the new recruits?" he had demanded, walking into the dorm looking irritated and worn-out. Clearly, training with Eren hadn't gone that great.

"They're cleaning the bathrooms, sir," Sasha piped up.

"Why? They're supposed to be in here helping you lot," he inquired. _Oh great. I need to step in before he tears her apart,_ Airi thought. Looking back on it, she just should've stayed quiet. _But hey, how could I have known he was going to be a complete ass,_ she wondered.

"I thought we'd get the job done faster and better if we split up," Airi had stepped forward. He looked at her disdainfully and a twinge of irritation sparked in her body. "Is there a problem?"

"I don't see why you think you're qualified to order your peers around," he said, folding his arms in front of his chest.

"I'm not ordering them around. I suggested that splitting up would be more efficient and everyone went with it," she said.

"Really? Because the way it seems is that they're taking orders from you," Levi pointed out. "I know you're older than them and everything, but that doesn't give you the right to make them disobey orders, Himura."

"I didn't disobey orders, I just thought this was a better way to get the job done!" Her blood was boiling and she held herself back from yelling at him.

"Your way isn't completely efficient. It gets the job done faster in theory, but you're not being thorough enough and you're spreading yourselves out too thin. You all should work on one room together so the cleaning is thorough and no one is having to do multiple jobs," he explained.

"But that would take forever!" she argued.

"It's _chores._ It's not supposed to be done quickly," Levi said, irritation strung tight in his voice.

"What, so you want us wasting time cleaning when we could be doing something productive like training?"

"I don't like your attitude, Himura. Double chores for a month," he said. _He was being unfair,_ she thought angrily collecting dust in a dustpan. _I was just trying to get us done faster so we could train. And he had to go and give me this dumbass punishment._

"Less talk, more work." Levi's harsh voice cut through Airi's recollections as he walked into the room the friends were cleaning.

"We literally just stopped talking," she argued.

"I don't want to hear it. Kirstein, come with me and I'll give you a new task. You're not helping Himura finish her work." Jean shot Airi an apologetic look before following Levi out of the room.

"Oh, _COME ON!"_ Airi yelled back at them.


	2. Chapter 2

Sparring practice had always been a favorite of Airi's during her time as a trainee. Nothing gives the same adrenaline rush as trying to sock someone in the face. When she joined the Survey Corps she expected that sparring would be stricken from the laundry list of things to do on base but to her surprise, it was something done at least once a week.

"With all the negativity from the civilians, we need to know how to fight just in case an altercation breaks out," Eld joked with her as they sat around the training yard waiting for the rest of Squad Levi. Gunther rolled his eyes.

"We keep up sparring because we help out the Garrison with patrols every so often," Gunther told her.

"Why? The Garrison has a shit ton of people in their ranks. Why do they need our help?" she asked.

"Around this time a lot of Garrison soldiers transfer to the Military Police so they're short-staffed. At least, they have less people than usual and need to adjust slowly," Eld said. "Although if you ask me, it's just to make sure we have a strong bond with other military branches and not really helping them out."

"Well, you're not wrong," Captain Levi interjected as he approached his squad, Petra and Eren trailing behind him. "Sorry for the wait, Hange kept us later than we originally planned. Let's go ahead and get started. I'll be sparring with Petra and Oluo today. Everyone else, split up into groups." Naturally, Eld and Gunther picked each other and immediately started started exchanging blows. Airi glanced over to Eren. Although he had just gotten out of titan training, he seemed to be fine. _Awesome, no holding back,_ she thought.

"Are you ready to get your ass kicked, Eren?" she teased him as she pulled a wooden knife from her belt, flashing him a grin. He smirked and put his fists up.

"I should ask you the same question," he said. His leg swung at her, but she'd sparred with him before. She knew his moves. Airi quickly stepped out of the way and kicked his leg out from under him, sending him to the ground. He coughed, brushing the dirt off of his shirt. "You could have at least let the match last longer than a few seconds," he complained. She laughed and sat on the ground with him, fingers ruffling his chocolate hair.

"If I did that, you wouldn't learn. As your older and wiser friend, I need to teach you that you can't repeat moves with people who know your moves well. Not to mention I'm older and my instincts are more honed than yours," she said affectionately.

"Really, Himura? You're going to spew that crap?" Airi and Eren looked over to see Levi glaring at them disdainfully. Both Oluo and Petra were on the ground in front of him, clutching their stomachs. Clearly, Levi hadn't spared them.

"Well it's true!" she replied defensively.

"No, it's not. It's bullshit. Age doesn't have anything to do with sparring skills," he said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"I'd beg to differ. The older you are, the more experience you have. It's just plain logic that someone who's older is more experienced at fighting," she explained. _Is he_ trying _to start a fight?_

"I don't like what you're implying. How about we settle this? You're sparring with me," he said.

"I'm not going to spar with you. Hell no," she said, putting her hands on her hips.

"What, are you afraid of getting your ass kicked?" Levi taunted her. _Bastard._ She gritted her teeth and gave him a cold glare.

"I'm not afraid of anything," she retorted.

"Good to know," he commented. "Then spar with me."

"No!"

"Captain, Airi, let's settle down. Let's talk this through." Petra was in between them, looking at them both pleadingly.

"Stand down, Petra," Levi ordered her quietly. She gave him a sad look but obeyed, stepping back and standing with Eren. "Himura, how about this: if you beat me, you don't have to do chores for a week. If you lose, you do chores and you have to help me file all the expedition paperwork." Airi gave him a dirty look. Sparring with him wasn't something she wanted to do. She'd seen the way he'd taken down anyone he sparred with. But there was a lot to gain and lose. If she didn't fight, she'd be submitting to him and like hell she was going to back down. And if she fought him and won, she wouldn't have to deal with his stupid cleaning assignments.

"Fine," she spat at him. "I'll spar with you." He smirked and took a wooden knife out of his pocket, a dangerous and smug light shining in his eyes. _I have to knock him down a peg. I'll never hear the end of it if I don't. It's time to take down Captain Levi,_ she thought.

Faster than the wind, he lunged towards her. A mistake. Airi sidestepped him and went to punch him straight in the back. He turned around, his fist coming into contact with her face with a hard crack and a sharper pain spurring through her nerves. His fingers grabbed her wrist and threw her onto the ground and before she could land any kind of hit he was on top of her, wooden knife pressing into the hollow of her neck. Airi could feel his legs between hers and his arm was right beside her ear, caging her against the ground. And although she knew how incredibly inappropriate it was, she couldn't help but think of how this position wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't outside, he hadn't punched her, and his knife not digging into her skin.

"Ugh!" she spat, hands roughly pushing him off of her. Her blood was boiling under her skin and she knew her face was red from embarrassment.

"I hope you learned your lesson. And that you like paperwork," Levi said smugly, getting to his feet.

"Whatever. I'm going to go get this cleaned up," she retorted and before he could say anything she was gone, hurrying towards the castle. _Hell no. Hell fucking no. I can't believe I lost! I can't believe I have to do that asshole's paperwork and I can't believe I fucking thought about_ that _during our fight. I'm going to hell. I'm so going to hell now._


End file.
